r/RouteDevelopment

Hi all,

I've recently come across some ~ 3 yr old stainless bolts with corrosion on the end. I am convinced this is because of sloppy hammering as they've been driven into the holes (other evidence: mushroomed head on the expansion wedge).

I was recently training others how to install bolts, and noticed that some people that haven't grown up swinging a hammer much had sloppy hits on the bolts, which I am confident imparted some iron contamination into the stainless steel, inducing localized corrosion. I am further confident it is "messy" hammering inducing the corrosion observed on new bolts as well.

How do you hammer in the bolts to ensure a clean finish, with minimal tool marks? Some things I've picked up:

• Positioning yourself roughly at eye level to the bolt
• Using two hands on the hammer if body positioning is awkward
• Follow-through on the swing (maybe I should've been a golfer..)
• Not using a hammer that has obvious rust on the impact surface
• Nut flush or slightly proud of the anchor

IMO, this is an important aspect of bolt longevity that is not well-discussed in bolting literature (UIAA bolting standards, HowNot2 bolting bible, etc.)

I'd like to get some sort of tool (like a socket, but less droppable..) that can act as a medium between the bolt and the hammer, but before I go re-inventing the wheel, I'd love to learn what others have done to ensure a tidy, clean installation of wedge bolts without leaving tool marks

*Stainless steel or titanium hammers are too pricey and out of the question

TIA!""

**Edit**
Holes are being drilled using a rotary hammer, not by hand

I won’t be spraying every episode on here, but wanted to highlight this episode as it’s with a member of our own community here and recent winner of the route/boulder of the month club, /u/over57boulderer!

Bouldering development is heavily overlooked on this subreddit despite likely being the most accessible and practiced form of development in climbing, so we sat down with Todd to talk about what he’s learned throughout a lifetime of it. Check it out wherever you get your podcasts!

Hey,
I’ve found a spot that’s pretty remote and steep to get to. No one else really goes there. There’s a big boulder that keeps everything dry and out of the sun, and I’m thinking about leaving a crashpad and some climbing gear there so I don’t have to haul it up every time.
Has anyone done something similar? What actually works to keep stuff safe from moisture, mice, mold etc. over weeks or months?
Would wrapping everything in a tarp be enough, or should I use a plastic box with some moisture absorbers? Any real-world experiences would be appreciated.

Wanted to get the opinion of folks here, I’ve been working on a new ~800ft alpine line this season. The wall its at previously was moderately popular, in that most times I was there there would be between 0-1 other parties distributed amongst its quarter mile face.

For whatever reason, this season, it has been getting shithoused. There were days where there were ~7 parties on a single line simultaneously.

Unfortunately, the new line I’ve been working on is striking distance to one of these newly hyperpopular lines. I’ve tried going at 4am on a weekday, afternoon on a weekend, on rainy forecast days (this is at 13000ft btw, so super not ideal. A group of 5 was struck by lightning and someone died this day) and I have no had a single day where I haven’t had another party on the line next to me.

I have had probably a collective 2 hours over 6 days of working where I’ve had a clear window to remove what little loose rock exists on the route. I had a situation yesterday where I just wanted to check if I’m an asshole or not.

Most folks will hike in from the top and rap in for this formation due to the nature of access to the wall. Yesterday a party walked up to the top and saw us trundling some large blocks as I had finally gotten a (what ended up to be 10 minutes long) clear window to knock them off. They offered to climb another route, and I told them I appreciated it but I’d be stopping trundling anything when their ropes got level with us regardless of which route they were on on this side of the wall, as we still had a lot of gardening and some hand-drilling to do in the meantime.

They went ahead and rapped the line directly below us, and almost immediately complained that there was still dirt falling on them. I reminded them we were still cleaning out cracks, so dirt was still gonna be falling (and also was standing in an ankle deep pile of dirt, so dirt was gonna be falling even if we stopped cleaning). They weren’t very happy and made some comments throughout the day which I ignored.

I just wanted an honest litmus test here, am I being an asshole developing at this wall at all? Should I be going in the middle of the night to do this? Should I discontinue any work as soon as someone gets to the wall, even if there’s no larger-than-usual risk of hitting them with something other than dirt, and I was there first?

It’s not super relevant at this point, the route is nearly done, but I’ve gotten some mixed feedback on this and figured I’d ask here.